After the No Violence Against Indigenous Women Act passed unanimously in Budget Committee, Mitch McConnell refuses to sign a UCA to allow the bill to reach the Senate Floor.
McConnell defends his decision, saying “This doesn’t mean that I don’t care about indigenous people. That is a patently absurd and ridiculous thing to say, but it does mean that extending them additional provisions that we’re not going to extend to anyone else. . .is an unacceptable reality for many of my Republican colleagues and I need to respect that.”
McConnell’s hesitance to provide additional resources to indigenous women comes at an especially dire time. As outlined in the bill, “The indigenous American and Alaskan women disproportionally experience human trafficking risk factors.” The federal government has been largely indifferent of disproportionately high rates of violence against indigenous women, with few “federal investigations and prosecutions of human trafficking and violent crime offences within Indigenous lands.” With Senate Republicans’
concerns of granting special “provisions” to historically oppressed indigenous people, it seems this trend of apathy will only continue.
“It’s completely outrageous, and it’s disgraceful, and it’s dishonorable,”
says Senator Cortez Masto.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland revealed her disappointment at McConnell’s refusal to support the bill. “If you’re in such a high position like the minority leader, you should be expressing the fact that you care about all Americans, all constituents.” Haaland, who is an indigenous woman herself, has worked to combat violence against indigenous women in her position as Secretary of the Interior. She is furious to see similar efforts fail in the Senate, and she blames Senate Republicans. “The Republican party has no regard for Native American people, and I find it very disappointing,” says Haaland.
After the bill passed unanimously in committee, Senator Cortez Masto, who wrote the bill, was surprised the bill wasn't receiving Republican support to reach the Senate Floor. Despite Republican resistance, Cortez Masto will continue to work to pass the bill: “I’m not gonna give up, and I’m gonna continue working to ensure that this bill gets passed because indigenous women and children deserve to be heard.”
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